Sonos confirms rumours with a launch of a successor to the Playbar and  Playbase soundbars-- the Beam, a miniature soundbar equipped with the Amazon Alexa providing voice-controlled smarts.

The Beam is smaller than previous Sonos soundbars, even if it features similarly minimalist fabric-coated stylings in either black or white finishes. It is wall-mountable, and offers just one HDMI-ARC port and an ethernet jack in terms of connectivity. HDMI-ARC allows compatible TVs to send audio straight to the soundbar with one cable, regardless of source. In case customers lack a media source with ARC capability an optical audio adapter is included.

As mentioned earlier Alexa ships with Alexa built-in, providing with at least some home control smarts. Sonos says users can tell Alexa to turn the TV on or off and adjust the volume through the Beam, thanks to the addition of HDMI-CEC support. It can also control "Alexa-enabled video streaming devices," such as the Fire TV, via voice commands. Sonos says support for other voice assistants will come later on, with the first being Siri following an update adding AirPlay 2 connectivity. Control also comes through smart devices and Sonos companion app.

In terms of actual hardware, the Beam carries x4 custom-built elliptical full-range woofers, x3 passive radiators, x1 tweeters and an array of x5 far-field microphones. For a surround setup, customers can pair the Beam with Sonos One or Sub speakers.

The Beam ships from July 2018.

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